Movie review: Rowan Atkinson genially bumbles his way through a new Johnny English film

Ed Symkus More Content Now

Monday

Oct 22, 2018 at 11:40 AMOct 22, 2018 at 11:40 AM

You might have missed the first two entries in what, even without much commercial success, has become a franchise. “Johnny English” (2003) featured Rowan Atkinson as a bumbling, but self-assured British spy, the only one left alive after every other agent was killed in an attack. Could he take on the bad guys? You bet! “Johnny English Reborn” (2011) saw the disgraced spy come out of retirement to stop an international assassination plot. Could he ... Oh, please, of course he could!

“Johnny English Strikes Again” stands on its own, and threads everything together by having the British Secret Service once again threatened, this time by a hacker who has revealed the identities of all active agents. When the frustrated and most likely idiotic Prime Minister (played with nuanced comic timing by Emma Thompson) is told that every current agent has been outed, and there’s no one to figure out who did it, she commands, “So, bring back an OLD one!”

Well, there are retired Agents Five, Seven, and Nine (Michael Gambon, Charles Dance, and Edward Fox), but there’s also a fourth possibility: Retired agent-turned-geography teacher Johnny English, who is managing to surreptitiously train his young students in the art of espionage. It’s a wonderful moment when Atkinson gets to play against those three veteran actors, but know this: His character is still a big-time bumbler and, due to what I’ll call “error,” the three other gents’ parts are quickly reduced to cameos.

So, Johnny English is back on the job, with the assistance of his returning sidekick Bough (Ben Miller, who played the role in the first film), and he’s out to find the hacker culprit. But there are ground rules: He will only work the Old School way, which means carrying a gun and driving a gas-powered (none of that hybrid crap) Aston Martin, and only a cherry red one will do. Soon, he and Bough are on the road to Antibes, where a mysterious luxury yacht awaits them.

This is a spy film with all of the usual spy ingredients: A smart, charming, wealthy, power-mad villain (Jake Lacy); a high-speed car chase along a twisty mountain road; a gorgeous woman (Olga Kurylenko) who could pass as a “Bond” girl, but in this case should probably be called an “English” girl, even though she’s a Russian girl; magnetic boots; instant-release super-high-energy pills; low-intensity exploding cotton batting; and, of course, an exoskeleton suit that increases your strength 100 times.

It’s a spy spoof with an unending supply of sight gags — some subtle, some silly, some wildly funny, some painfully obvious. Atkinson plays English as a smooth and proper and low-key operative. For this character, he’s removed the mischievous edge that he gave Mr. Bean, but he still puts on a serious face and attitude that nicely counterbalances a series of absurd situations. Miller remains mostly in the background, staying cemented in that sidekick role, but is obviously the brighter half of the duo. Both Lacey and Thompson give their characters just the right amount of gusto (Lacey) and foolishness (Thompson).

By the time the film shifts its setting to the G12 Summit in Scotland, where international leaders are going to meet up with that villain and his dastardly plans, viewers will be certain that, 1) the world will be saved, and 2) there’s undoubtedly another gag waiting right around the corner.

Just as Johnny English prefers deploying Old School methods to his spying, the film is an Old School spy sendup, one that might not work on modern audiences. It’s a genial, inoffensive movie that plays it safe, even in the one “nude” scene that’s so chaste, you could show it to grandma ... and your young kids.

— Ed Symkus writes about movies for More Content Now. He can be reached at esymkus@rcn.com.